Religious culture at Mt Cangyan

The most famous mountains are identified with numerous monks. And Mt Cangyan is no exception. Temples, such as the Dragon-cliff Temple, Temple of the Sleeping Buddha, Fuqing Temple, the Peak of the Jade Emperor, etc, can be found at the foot of the mountain, the mountainside, on its peaks, narrow or wide points, or even its cliffs.

Over the past thousands of years, Wutai Mountain has been regarded as a famous Buddhist mountain, and Wudang Mountain , as a famous Taoist mountain. At Cangyan Mountain, both Buddhism and Taoism are practiced and coexist.

As mentioned above, Fuqing Temple, originally called "Xingshan Temple", was the place where Princess Nanyang, the daughter of Emperor Yangdi of the Sui Dynasty, once practiced Buddhism. During the reign of Dazhong Xiangfu of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Emperor Zhenzong named the temple "Fuqing", which may have originated from "Qian Zi Wen" ("The Thousand-Character Essay") by Zhou Xingsi of the Southern Dynasty (420-589) -- the world's oldest and most influential existing teaching resource that imparts elementary knowledge to beginners of Buddhism.

Bridge-Tower Hall is one of China's three great hanging temples . Spanning the cliffs between two mountains, the stone bridge is about 15 meters long and 9 meters wide. It is said that the bridge was built by the skilful artisan Lu Ban of the State of Lu, a figure later deified by Taoism. Master Lu piled up haystacks in the mountain stream to build arches, and constructed the "heavenly bridge" with 22 arches. Having completed the bridge, Lu burnt off the haystacks to reveal the stone bridge. The legend is rich in Taoist symbolism.